Metschnikowia pulcherrima NRRL Y-7111 growing on artificial media. Image by David Krause.

Metschnikowia pulcherrima is best known for being the first yeast described as producing the red pigment pulcherrimin, from which the compound derives its name, in 1918¹. The chemistry of this pigment was later deduced in 1953 as being made from the amino acid leucine². One hundred years after the initial description, the genes responsible for production of pulcherrimin in yeast were identified and characterized, and they comprise the first known secondary metabolite gene cluster in budding yeasts³.

References:

1. Beijerinck, M. W.: Levures chromogènes. Nouvelle réaction biologique du fer. Arch. néerl. Physiol. 2, 609–615 (1918).
2. Kluyver, A.J. et al. Pulcherrimin, the Pigment of Candida Pulcherrima. PNAS. 39, 583-593 (1953).
3. Krause, D.J. et al. Functional and evolutionary characterization of a secondary metabolite gene cluster in budding yeasts. PNAS. 115, 11030-11035 (2018).